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International Year of Light: Ibn al Haytham, pioneer of modern optics celebrated at UNESCO

UNESCO will host an international conference about the Islamic Golden Age of science and the legacy of Ibn al Haytham, one of the inventors of modern optics. The event is organized as part of the International Year of Light and occurs 14 to 15 September.

Researchers, academics, science historians and political decision makers from different parts of the world will discuss the scientific legacy of Ibn al Haytham, the history of optical sciences and the future of light-based technologies. The conference will highlight the contribution of Arab scientists of the 8th to 15th centuries to the development of modern science and identify present-day challenges facing research in light-based sciences and technologies.

Considered to be the father of modern optics, Al-Hasan Ibn Al-Haytham was a 10th century scholar from Basra, modern-day Iraq, who pioneered scientific experimental methodology. The celebration of the International Year of Light coincides with the 1,000th anniversary of the publication of his Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics).

Alongside the conference, facsimiles of manuscripts written by Arab and Moslem scientists will be on display in an exhibition entitled “Ibn Al-Haytham's contributions to the Islamic Golden Age of Science.”

The International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015) aims to raise global awareness of the key role light and optical technologies play in our daily life and their importance to modern science.

The Islamic Golden Age of Science for actual knowledge-based society: The Ibn Al-Haytham example Conference will take place on 14 September from 10 a.m. to 6.15 p.m. and on 15 September from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Room II.

The Ibn Al-Haytham's contributions to the Islamic Golden Age of Science Exhibition will be on show in the lobby of Room I from 14 to 25 September.